Boy band One Direction to play stadiums in Australia February tour

IN three years One Direction have taken on the world. Now they are coming back Down Under ... with an interesting wardrobe choice.

BRITAIN’S richest boy band One Direction will bring their global stadium tour to Australia in February.

The five singers who were hand-picked for stardom by music mogul Simon Cowell have graduated from playing halls in front of 5000 fans to stadiums in front of 50,000 people in just three years.

Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson kicked off the Where We Are world tour in South America in late April and tour the UK, Europe and the US until October.

NO DIRECTION: Melbourne company accuse One Direction of plagiarism

ONE DIRECTION: Band management upset over ‘one erection’ condoms

Heading to Australian football stadiums ... boy band One Direction performs at Velez stadium in Buenos Aires on May 4, 2014.

Proudly sporting Australian football team jerseys to signal their move into our outdoor sports ovals, 1D will kick off next year’s On The Road Again shows at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on February 7.

So far they have also scheduled Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane on February 11, Etihad Stadium, Melbourne on February 14, AAMi Stadium, Adelaide on February 17 and Patersons Stadium in Perth on February 20.

One Direction performed to more than 300,000 fans across 26 arena shows with the Take Me Home tour last September and October.

PICTURES: ONE DIRECTION FAN-DENOMIUM

When I caught up with the lads as they prepared for their Santiago concert last month, Payne and Styles said stepping up to perform in stadiums was exhilarating.

Their production features a wide catwalk into the crowd and giant video screens to broadcast their every move.

Payne said the nerves were high in the dressing room before the first massive show in Bogota.

“You get lost in the moment for a bit after you walk on stage, we were so hyped up,” he said.

“I was twitching in the dressing room before, I was far too excited.”

Graduated to big venues ... One Direction’s Harry Styles gets close to his fans at the concert in Santiago on April 30, 2014.

Styles said the challenge for the band who are not into choreographed dancing is to keep moving.

“The stage is so big, you are conscious that you can’t stand still. You really need to move or you will look tiny and get lost in the stage if you stand still,” he said.

Despite the big production values, the stadium show feels more relaxed than their previous tours.

The setlist draws heavily from their third record Midnight Memories but Payne and Styles said they will never throw out the early hits which launched their career.

“Every time we play What Makes You Beautiful, you can almost feel every gig that has gone past, all the way back to the start,” Styles said.

“It started everything for us and so every time we play it, I think ‘This song is wicked’. I love it.”

Telstra customers will have access to a 48 hour pre-sale from 12pm on May 29, with general tickets will be available from 4pm on May 31.

Don’t miss our exclusive interview One Direction in HIT sections of your newspaper on

Thursday.

PICTURES: ONE DIRECTION

Originally published as Boy band One Direction to play stadiums in Australia February tour